A new test for HIV which gives results within 15 minutes is available on Teesside for the first time.

HIV charity Teesside Positive Action is running a pilot scheme to give free and confidential testing, with results and consultation within an hour at its Middlesbrough base.

The charity estimates there are at least 200 people accessing HIV care on Teesside. There could be hundreds more people with the disease in the area accessing care outside the region or at the confidential Genito-Urinary Medicine clinics.

The kit is used in major cities throughout the UK but has not been available on Teesside until now.

Development worker James Woods said: "One of our main aims is to reduce the number of people with undiagnosed HIV in this area. The test can put people's minds at rest if they have been at risk."

"People get very worried about being tested and up to half of those people who are tested don't return for the results," he added.

"They are at risk from becoming seriously ill, not to mention the fact that they may be putting others at serious risk."

It takes up to eight weeks, says the charity, to get an appointment to be tested at a GUM clinic in hospitals in the region.

Getting results can take another two weeks.

The rapid testing can obtain a result in 15 minutes without the anxiety and stress of waiting for an appointment and results.

Medical advances have meant HIV is no longer a death sentence as there has been a good turnaround in the drugs available in the last decade.

The test is just as accurate as the ELISA antibody test - the usual hospital HIV test - and in the event of a positive or ambiguous result, hospital testing will back up findings.

If the pilot scheme, in conjunction with the Department of Infection and Travel Medicine, is successful it is hoped the test will be provided at other locations in the community.

Teesside Positive Action runs a weekly drop-in session each Monday from 11am to 4pm at its base in Baker Street.